Sheikh Mubarak, a member of the Board of Senior Ulema, has said that it is not permissible to pronounce “takfeer” – accusing Muslims of unbelief – on those who permit “disputable issues” on which scholars are not unanimous. A judge from the Ministry of Justice has also said that “takfeer rulings” may only be issued by the courts of the judiciary. The scholars have spoken on the issue in response to a fatwa earlier this week from Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Nasser Al-Barrak in which he deemed lawful the killing of anyone permitting “ikhtilat” – mixing of the sexes – in the workplace or in education. Senior scholar Sheikh Mubarak, however, told Al-Watan Friday that the issue of Ikhtilat had become an issue of increasing dispute among scholars in the Kingdom over the last four months and that “takfeer” can only be pronounced on unequivocal matters. “Kufr (unbelief) is the rejection of what the Prophet (peace be upon him) brought, and occurs if someone in action or in word rejects what is unanimously agreed upon,” Sheikh Mubarak said, giving as “examples everyone knows”, “permitting alcohol, or pork or adultery”. “Issues on which there is no unanimity, or on which no ‘necessity' has been pronounced, should not provoke ‘takfeer' on those who permit them,” he said. According to the Sheikh, the “rule in Islamic Shariah is that unbelief can only be pronounced when there is conclusive evidence”. Judge Nasser Al-Dawid from the Ministry of Justice told Al-Watan that takfeer pronouncements could only be made through the courts of justice and described the fatwa which Sheikh Al-Barrak published on his own official website, as “the viewpoint of a seeker of knowledge who's just another member of society”. Al-Dawid also warned “extremists” against “using the fatwa as an excuse”. Sheikhs from Al-Zhar in Egypt, meanwhile, have described Al-Barrak's fatwa as “a battle in the wrong battlefield”, saying that ikhtilat is permissible in accordance with Shariah rules and necessity, the most important being education. Sheikh Mohamoud Ashour said scholars “should not be issuing challenges to one another, and it's wrong to pronounce unbelief on each other”, and said the mixing of sexes was permissible in education as education is a duty for Muslims, citing the Prophet's Hadith: “Seek knowledge, even in China.” “All scholars of jurisprudence unanimously agree that ikhtilat is permissible in classrooms and public gardens and lectures, as long as Shariah rules are being followed. He added that ikhtilat was permissible at the Holy Mosque in Makkah and for the Haj pilgrimage, “meaning that ikhtilat is allowed in the search for knowledge”. Ali Al-Jum'a, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, agreed that ikhtilat is permissible in the quest for knowledge, “as long as Islamic Shariah morals and values are adhered to”. “There is nothing against it in universities, schools or other places of knowledge,” the Grand Mufti said, citing the Prophet's Hadith: “Seeking knowledge is a duty for every Muslim man and woman.”
